Collateral Afghan Dead

I can certainly sympathize with the nervous soldiers who fire on moving vehicles in Afghanistan’s climate of violent uncertainty. However, it may be time for Western newspapers to start printing the names and faces of the anonymous Afghans who die “collateral” deaths at the hands of NATO troops. The actual number of Afghans accidentally killed by NATO forces is debatable but should these dead remain faceless to us? We owe them public acknowledgement if we insist on managing their affairs at gunpoint. Are their lives worth less than the lives of the soldiers sent to “liberate” them from oppression? Perhaps the anonymity of the Afghan dead assuages the secret shame we feel about our ill-defined role in this ugly intervention. The government’s justifications for our presence still lack coherence.